About

Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride is a custom-designed ride from the computer simulation game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. The ride purportedly lasted four years of game time for each virtual passenger and included an exit path that led back to the entrance of the ride, creating a never ending loop. The story is often associated with the abbreviation “2Spooky”, the song “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold and a creepypasta story of the same name.

Origin

On March 26th, 2012, an anonymous 4chan[2] user started a thread in the /v/ (video games) board, which included several screen captures from the amusement park management simulation game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. The images showed a 30,696 foot roller coaster track with 38 riders that took four years of in-game time to complete. The original poster (OP) provided greentext descriptions of the images, explaining that passengers were constantly yelling “I want to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride.” After the coaster ended, the passengers walked down a large path leading to another entrance to the ride, where they were greeted by an installation of a skeleton with a top hat and a sign reading “The ride never ends.” Prior to being archived, the thread accumulated over 325 responses.

Creepypasta

After the 4chan thread was posted, a creepypasta[1] surfaced about a user visiting the Busch Gardens theme park while on vacation, where he discovers a strange ride as he wanders the park. After getting on the ride, he notices a giant skeleton tipping his hat next to a sign which read “Mr. Bone’s Wild Ride.”

So anyone who’s been on the /v/ board at 4chan. probably knows about Mr. Bone’s Wild Ride. For those who don’t, it was a ride someone made for Roller Coaster Tycoon. It was one of those really slow motor car rides but with a twist. It had 30,696 feet of track and a ride time of 70 real time minutes, around four years ingame time. In addition there were those props of the skeleton holding out his top hat scattered around here and there, as if to mock the customers. Needless to say, there were a lot of passengers screaming “I WANT TO GETOFF MR. BONE’S WILDRIDE!”

Now here’s where things get really good. Once the ride came to a stop, the passengers found themselves on a long path that took about 2 hours to traverse. Once they reached the end, they found themselves facing a sign that read “Mr. Bones says: The ride never ends!”

The path lead straight back to the entrance of Mr. Bone’s Wild Ride. There was nowhere else to go. In other words, they were fucked. Needless to say this gained a lot of popularity on /v/ and people started making their own Mr. Bones Wild Ride. I was one of them and made a version with the ghost train ride. You know the one that’s usually a huge death trap. It didn’t last as long as the original but it did have a twist. Near the end it launched the cars into a small shed with a sign on the side that said “Enjoy your stay!” I killed about 20 people with that ride and laughed my ass off as they each went one by one to their graves.

Fast forward a few weeks and I was in Busch Gardens on vacation. I was wandering around trying to decide what to ride. That’s when I noticed a ride that hadn’t been there the last time I visited. It was weird because it had never been advertised and there was nothing on the map about it. I figured “what the hell” and got in line.

Surprisingly the line wasn’t very long. I only waited about 10 minutes to get on. It was one of those motor car rides which is kind of weird because they already had one elsewhere in the park. Why would they open up a second one? After buckling in I looked up ahead and froze. There was a giant skeleton up ahead tipping a hat to me with a sign over his head. “No…” I whispered. The sign read “Mr. Bone’s Wild Ride”.

I struggled with my restraints but they wouldn’t come off. I begged the employee contolling the ride to help and that I had changed my mind but he ignored me. My car started moving and I screamed in terror. Up ahead the track stretched on for what seemed like forever. “I WAN’T TO GETOFF MR. BONE’S WILDRIDE!”

Spread

On March 28th, 2012, Redditor lessonplan submitted a post to the /r/gaming[4] subreddit titled “One does not simply get off of Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride,” which included several screenshots from the 4chan thread. Prior to being archived, the post received over 4,250 up votes and 225 comments. On April 3rd, FunnyJunk[7] user SweatyAnReady submitted the same set of screenshots to the Internet humor site, which received over 19,500 views and 323 up votes within the next six months. On May 10th, a Facebook[6] page for “Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride” was created, receiving 150 likes within the next five months. On May 22nd, a “Mr. Bones” thread was created in the /v/ board on 4chan, which received over 875 replies prior to being archived. On June 16th, YouTuber Rolan McDolan uploaded a video titled “The ride never ends,” including footage of a dancing skeleton accompanied by the song “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold (shown below).